A halál és az iránytű

After their EP release of 2016, ‘Land Beyond the Forest’, Siculicidium return with another, sorter this time, EP called ‘A halál és az iránytű’. So, the duet from Romania, in this EP they present two new compositions, recorded during 2018 and 2019 and finally got released in the 8^th of April of 2019. The duration of the album is almost fifteen minutes and it was released by the label responsible for almost all of their releases, Sun & Moon Records, in 7” vinyl format, in two limited colors, 200 copies black and 100 clear. The first thing you may notice is that they have dropped the English language again, while they continue their black ‘n’ white layout approach which was introduced in the previous album, this time created by Juha Vuorma, a talented artist from Finland.

Musically, this is another step forward, as the band maintains the elements that characterizes them such as the rhythmic, almost marching drumming, the punkish passages, the eerie vocals and the horror atmosphere. The Swans influence is in this release too, limited to some passages but still intense. The riffing here, puts out a warm, dark feeling, as the nice, punk verses have been enriched with some slow, southern and oriental melodies, making the tracks very interesting. The use of instruments like the acoustic guitar, the violin or the trumpet, an element that I really love in their compositions, is present again and I think that this is their best effort in using these instruments. They have almost mastered how to use these different sounds in specific parts of the composition where the atmosphere will become very dark and horrific. The compositions are more complex with more changes both regarding the rhythm but also the riffs and generally the structure of the tracks which is now consists of more bridges and more interesting passages.

All instruments are played by Pestifier and vocals are performed by Béla Lugosi and as always their performance is flawless. The guitars are very accurate and passionate while their clean and warm sound, gives a really nice result. The bass is solid and is supporting the compositions very well, its lines are simple but interesting. It is not mentioned if the rest of the instruments are played by guest musicians as in previous releases, so I will assume that Pestifier plays them too and his performance is great. The drums have that repetitive, punkish, marching approach, with just the appropriate changes, giving a minimal but very steady performance. The vocals continue in the style of the previous releases, although I think in this one they are deeper and darker. I think that with this release they establish their new approach regarding their sound. Clean production with a warm, bassy touch and a balanced mixture underlining the guitars. The lyrics are in Hungarian and they are not contained in the EP.

It may feel like I exaggerate, but I believe that these two songs are the most complete and interesting compositions that have been created by Siculicidium. Of course, it is a release with only two songs but they show how serious they still are, how much they have been working and how much they value their fans by trying always to evolve, even after more than fifteen years since their first release. I really look forward to listening to their new full length album. This release is a must for the fans of the band but also it will be a very good start for those of you who are not familiar yet with Siculicidium.